Kidney Transplant Bill [HL]

My Lords, I join all those who have welcomed the noble Baroness’s initiative in bringing this Bill forward. If one thing is unanimous in this House, and probably the other place and the country at large, it is that something must be done to improve the rate of organ transplants. At this early stage in my speech, I am sorry to enter a discordant note. I echo the concerns of my noble friend Lord Chandos about the Bill being too narrowly drawn. It is too narrowly drawn in two respects. First, under its provisions, it requires only one kidney to be taken. Secondly, and perhaps more damagingly, I am advised by the Public Bill Office that it cannot be amended to increase the range of organs. Therefore, the suggestion made by my noble friend Lord Rea on a way forward for the noble Baroness’s Bill, which the Government could pick up on for change, cannot happen. For those in the country who feel that this might be a way forward, or perhaps might seek to condemn the noble Baroness’s Bill because it could be used in this way, this is not a Trojan horse Bill. It concerns simply kidney transplants. It is none the worse for that, but those are my concerns. The facts and figures have not changed much over the years. In 2005, 90 per cent of the public agreed with the principle of organ transplants. Only 20 per cent had registered as donors. The figures still are that 90 per cent of people agree with organ transplants and that registration is 23 per cent. In that respect, all the discussions that we have had and all the problems that have arisen have not increased the rate of donation, which shows that we need to go further than simply having registered donors. The waiting list has increased to 8,000 from 6,000 two years ago. We are on a sliding scale in which the problem is becoming more difficult as each year passes. In addition, we have only 3,000 transplants a year, including 600 live donor transplants, which were unthought-of only a couple of years ago. Those are on the increase, but they will not solve the problem. We have to do something. We all welcome the Organ Donation Taskforce report, which makes 14 recommendations on what might be done. It did not consider presumed consent, although I understand that there will be a report in the summer on the position. That should be done as quickly as possible. Several members have referred to the excellent brief provided by the BMA. I shall not weary the House with the number of points that it makes about how the argument in favour of presumed consent has moved considerably. There are far more people now in favour of presumed consent than there were. We should welcome that and should continue at all levels to push the case. I should like to dwell a little on the issue of taking one kidney under the Bill. I do not know enough about the theory of mathematics applied to one kidney versus two kidneys in terms of producing more kidneys. The noble Baroness’s argument is that her Bill will increase the number of kidneys available. I am not sure whether that will happen. I am concerned that there would be confusion if this Bill should reach the statute book. Those who are at the sharp edge of persuading relatives to give their consent would have to say that one kidney can be taken. They might reply, ““Why give another?””. If you can get one without any difficulty, why not stick with one? Would it be possible for the law of diminishing returns to apply? I do not know, because I do not know the dynamics of the methodology of kidney or organ transplantation. I do not know how that works. I am concerned that if the Bill should reach the statute book, this confusion would arise, which is the last thing we need. We need clarity. I say to the noble Baroness, not in any spirit of antagonism but simply to advise her of my position, that in Committee I will table an amendment to delete the word ““one”” and insert ““two””. We would be able to continue the debate and avoid confusion. The task force is to report in the summer on presumed consent and we all hope that it will come down in favour of it. I very much welcome the initiative of the Prime Minister. It has bought acres of space in the press, which none of us could hope to achieve. I notice that in some quarters he has been accused of doing a U-turn. I would not have thought that was an accusation that should be levelled at someone who decides to change his or her mind in order to improve the medical condition of people at large. Unfortunately, negativity appears to be the rule of the day. I must not be diverted. My final question to the Minister is, given that we expect the transplant task force to come down on the side of consent, will she say what work is being done so that we will have the legislation as quickly as possible? I finish with the words of a dear late friend of mine, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, about a different context. When he was railing against those whom he felt were not attacking the apartheid system strongly enough, he used to say, ““Words, words, words; I’ve had enough of words; what I need is action””.